Though Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid said that they hoped the press would respect their privacy while they are in the midst of a painful public separation, that now sounds like wishful thinking.
Observers are all abuzz over Ryan's possible new squeeze, Russell Crowe, and now the scenario's gotten messier with rumors of Quaid's roving eye. According to the July 17 issue of People magazine, several women who were extras on the set of Quaid's football drama, Any Given Sunday, complained that he was "very aggressive" and frequently pawed at their padding.
Cara Kinder, who plays a cheerleader in the movie, tells People she had to fight Quaid off several times, claiming he frequently invited her back to his room at the Four Seasons Hotel. Two weeks into filming, she says she was riding across the set in Quaid's golf cart when he pulled over, dragged her into a nearby restroom, and began kissing her.
"I was freaking out, thinking, 'I can't believe he's doing this and he's married,'" Kinder said. "I said, 'We better get back,' and he agreed." Sounds like the cameras should have been rolling, don't it?
Quaid denies Kinder's charges. His half-brother, Buddy, puts it this way: "Compared to Meg Ryan, why would you want anybody else?" He adds that the news of the couple's split was "a shocker."
Ryan has her own infidelity rumors to fight, as every waiter, busboy, and concertgoer in London seems anxious to report on spotting the actress with co-star Crowe. The two reportedly bonded on the set of their upcoming drama, Proof of Life, and some say that their newfound "friendship" drove a wedge between peppy Ryan and her husband.
People reports that Crowe and Ryan were seen making a pathway from his London hotel to hers at 1 a.m. A hotel employee tells the mag that the two were busted in a private room off the lobby "cuddling, hugging, kissing." A waiter in Ecuador, where Proof began shooting, says he served the two photogenic stars vodka tonics while they nuzzled in the bar. "[Crowe] would touch her hair and stroke her face," he claims.
Just one day before Ryan and Quaid issued a public statement confirming their separation, she and Crowe attended a David Bowie concert in London. Ryan was seen watching the intimate show, reportedly with her head in Crowe's lap, sparking a flurry of speculation.